"State Fair" Lemonade

Wash the lemons thoroughly. Using a vegetable peeler, carefully peel the yellow zest from all six lemons, avoiding the white pith. Place the peels into a bowl.

Add 1.5 cups of granulated sugar to the bowl with the lemon peels. Mix thoroughly with a spoon, ensuring the sugar coats the peels.

Cover the bowl and let it sit for 2 to 12 hours (longer is better) at room temperature. The sugar will draw out the oils and flavor from the lemon peels, creating an oleo-saccharum.

Place 5 cups of cold fresh water in a saucepan over high heat and bring it to a boil.

Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat. Pour the oleo-saccharum mixture (lemon peels and sugar) into the hot water. Stir to dissolve the sugar and let it sit for about 5 minutes, or until all the sugar is dissolved.

Strain the infused syrup through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl, pressing down on the peels to extract all the liquid. Discard the peels.

Allow the infused syrup to cool to room temperature.

Once the syrup has cooled, squeeze the juice from the peeled lemons (you can do this by hand or with a citrus juicer). Add 1.5 cups of fresh lemon juice to the syrup.

Pour the mixture into a pitcher. Stir well, cover, and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or until very cold.

Fill glasses with ice. Pour the chilled lemonade over the ice. Garnish with a lemon slice if desired.